Clubs strike Twitter gold in reworking past glories

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By Tom Parsons
June 3 – It’s the end of the season and dreams have either come true or been broken, leaving football fans wanting for more from the football club’s they support. With ‘silly season’ approaching and transfer rumours spreading it’s not always easy for the football teams to generate relevant content on social media for their fans. Arsenal and Manchester City however have excited fans by recreating some of their biggest moments in history on their Twitter feeds.

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Massimo Cecchini: Italians take a shot at hooliganism

Un passo avanti, e adesso il burrone è proprio davanti a noi, basta solo che si voglia vederlo. Nel lento cammino che avvicina sempre di più la violenza del calcio italiano a quella del Sudamerica, il 3 maggio 2014 è stata una data che non dimenticheremo. Dopo i feriti per risse e coltelli, adesso si è arrivati anche alle pistole. Una infatti ha sparato prima della finale di Coppa Italia tra Napoli e Fiorentina dopo un agguato da parte di ultrà della Roma a quelli del Napoli.

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Andrew Warshaw: Smoking gun but where does it really point us

For three and a half years, ever since FIFA president Sepp Blatter opened the proverbial envelope and pronounced the word “Qatar” to a tense auditorium in Zurich and millions more following proceedings worldwide, hardly a week has gone by without the hosts of the 2022 World Cup being forced on the defensive amid a spate of corruption claims.

Time and again, just when they think the furore over their fourth round landslide victory in December 2010,

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Palestinians win AFC Challenge Cup but still battle for the right to play

Palestine win AFC Challenge Cup

By Mark Baber
June 2 – Palestine’s national football team won their first ever international trophy on Friday – lifting the Asia Challenge Cup in the Maldives after defeating the Philippines 1-0. The win secures a place in next year’s AFC Asia Cup to be held in Australia and underlines the urgency of FIFA efforts to ensure an accommodation is reached between Israel and Palestine in order to allow Palestinian football to be played,

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INSIDE World Football goes (a little bit) public

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Dear readers, friends and associates
A year after its re-launch and after a successful liaison with our Chinese partners at NetEase, our daily publication for the business and the politics of football – not to mention our dedication to fight racism not only in football – InsideWorldFootball.com (IWF) has taken another step towards strengthening its position in the international marketplace.

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David Owen: Anatomy of a World Cup qualifying competition

Heading to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup? Apprehensive about the demonstrations and logistical nighmares that might lie in wait for you? May I make a suggestion: pack a copy of James Montague’s kaleidoscopic new book Thirty-One Nil.

It will remind you that, however trying your current circumstances, things could be worse, while articulating, in a succession of scrupulously observed national tableaux, why you made the effort in the first place.

Not that the author makes a meal of his discomfort,

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Osasu Obayiuwana: Counting the cost of the World Cup

As we edge closer to the start of the World Cup finals, my thoughts have nothing to do with the usual questions, like which team is likely to lift the trophy or the players that will distinguish themselves in Brazil and earn a deserved place in the tournament’s pantheon of legends.

What has preoccupied me is the consistent fury of working-class and under-privileged Brazilians, about the money being spent on hosting the World Cup.

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Matt Scott: Premier League transfer volcano looks primed to erupt

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“Anyone who lives within their means suffers a lack of imagination.” Oscar Wilde

A lack of imagination is not football’s affliction. This game gives flame to our childish dreams. The nine-year-old Aberdeen fan Boyd Gibson, who submitted a transfer wish list to his club requesting they purchase such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Gareth Bale and Lionel Messi, was only echoing the boyish fantasies that consume every one of us at times.

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